Last year at a student assembly I introduced the idea of a buddy bench.  The buddy bench idea came from a child in Pennsylvania who noticed that some of his school mates were not playing with others at recess time.  Our WRS students gave me a very enthusiastic response when I asked them if they felt that WRS could use a buddy bench.  

I contacted Doug Heavisides, Director of the Hartford Area Career and TechnologyCenter and asked him if his students might help build us a buddy bench.  I had several planning meetings with Mr. Heavisides and one of his students.  His student designed a bench and made scale drawings of the bench which was then cut out of metal and assembled.  It is beautiful!  The buddy bench shows two students with "WRS" on their shirts and on the seat it reads: "Be a friend.  Make a friend."  Our students were incredibly excited when we unveiled the buddy bench on Tuesday.  Fourth graders Ben Reed, Skye Webb, Paige Brown and Sawyer Albrecht helped me present tips for how we will use the buddy bench.  We will hang up signs throughout our school to remind our students that we're all responsible for including others and helping each other out.  Our motto:  You can't say, "You can't play!"